Who needs a real estate lawyer?
Anyone can benefit from working with a real estate lawyer when buying, selling, or mortgaging property. Your legal documents need to be accurate and complete for both commercial real estate and residential real estate transactions.
Our Real Estate Law department represents
- Individuals
- Businesses
- Investors
- Developers
What is a conveyance?
To convey means to transfer a property from one party to another party. This property can be land, a building, or a home.
Typically, conveyance refers to transferring the title of the property at a land title office. Which means a transfer of ownership of the property.
In some cases, conveyance can also refer to transferring the right to use the property to the other party.
What is the difference between legal title and beneficial interest?
Legal title belongs to the registered owner of the property. The registered owner is the person who is registered at the land title office as the owner. They have the right to transfer or mortgage the property.
Beneficial interest refers to the right to use the property. The beneficial owner is the person who owns the economic value of the property and who has the right to use or to collect the rent from the property.
Why would you separate the legal title from the beneficial interest of a property?
The legal owner may have both the legal title and the beneficial interest. Or the legal title could be separated from the beneficial interest of the property. In this last case, you will have two types of owners for the same property:
- The legal owner is the trustee who holds the property on behalf of the beneficial owner. The trustee makes all legal decisions and manages the beneficial owner’s affairs.
- The beneficial owner will not be able to make decisions regarding the property, but they will receive the income or benefits from the assets.
There are many different reasons why you might decide to separate legal title and beneficial interest for your property. For example, tax planning; providing for minor children; or planning for circumstances involving disability, mental health, addiction, or lack of capacity.
Our lawyers would be pleased to discuss these uses in the context of your specific needs.
What is joint ownership of property? And how does it differ from tenancy in common?
Tenants in common have distinct interests in the property. For example, each partner owns 50% of the property.
Joint tenants (or joint owners) have overlapping interests in the property. For example, each partner owns 100% of the property.
If one of the partners dies, the structure you chose determines what happens to their share of the property:
- Tenancy in common: their share of the property goes into their estate. This means that their share is distributed in accordance with their will and subject to probate tax.
- Joint tenants: the deceased owner is simply removed from title, and their share of the property automatically goes to the surviving joint tenant(s). The will does not apply and probate tax does not need to be paid.
Typically, spouses hold joint ownership and business partners are tenants in common.
What is a reverse mortgage?
A reverse mortgage allows you to live in your home until you die and to get money from your home equity without having to sell your home while you are alive.
you are considering a reverse mortgage, you need to talk to a lawyer about the terms of your reverse mortgage contract. For example, whether or not you can get your property back if you change your mind later on, exclusively depends on the terms of the reverse mortgage contract you signed.
What is a real estate Disclosure Statement?
When a developer sells property that involves five or more units, they are required to provide a detailed Disclosure Statement. They need to inform the buyer about the development and disclose all potential risks to the buyer.
If you are buying a unit from a developer in a complex with five or more units, make sure you get a Disclosure Statement when you buy the unit.
What is property transfer tax?
Property transfer tax is a tax the government charges for making any changes in ownership of your property at the title registry.
How much property transfer tax you will need to pay depends on the value of the property as the fees are based on a sliding scale.
Can I transfer real estate to family without paying property taxes?
It depends.
If you transfer property to family, you typically do not have to pay property taxes if
- the transfer is between parents and children,
- at least one of the parties has lived in the property as a principal residence for the last six months, and
- no other transfers are made in the next six months.
Even if you check all these boxes, we still recommend that you consult a lawyer as there could be specific concerns for your property.
If you are transferring property to a different family member, there may still be a possibility that you do not need to pay property tax. Contact a lawyer to talk about your options.
